Today we need to remember the greatest of Mark Kilmer.

Back on February 20, 2007, Mark wrote a post entitled “A Baghdad fairy tale from McClatchey?”

In the post, Mark pointed out a variety of anonymous bloggers used by McClatchy to smear the Iraq War and George W. Bush. It has been an ongoing thing with McClatchy. That particular news service has provided some of the most biased anti-American slanted coverage of the entire Iraq War.

Mark pointed it out.

To accept that these are anonymous Iraqis blogging for McClatchy, a notoriously anti-Bushie news service, requires a profound leap a faith. You must believe that every lefty preconception about the war and its aftermath turned out to be true. You must believe that despite the erudition of such Iraqis as Omar and Mohammed Fahdil of Iraq the Model, the best McClatchy could find were a few folks who were semi-articulate with English, who more resemble anAmerican pretending to use broken English.

This is “remarkably revealing commentary” to the anti-Bushies. The Congressional Cheese Eating Surrender Monkey Caucus needs its collaborators. (What are surrender monkeys without a Vichy regime?)

So spot on was his criticism that McClatchy’s D.C. Editor, Mark Seibel, felt the need to respond, with great sarcasm, at RedState. He compounded with remarks with so much arrogance he got banned if I recall.

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Earlier this year, Redstate lost Mark Kilmer to cancer.  Our community is not alone–cancer touches almost all of us either directly or through one that we love.  And while treatments have certainly been progressing, the battle seems an uphill one.

Today, however, there is some good news.

“Big Pharm” poster child Pfizer announced it is halting the phase three trial of its new pancreatic drug Sutent. 

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After the sad news of Mark Kilmer’s untimely passing reached Redstate on Thursday, we started to think of how we as a community would honor his memory. Two ideas were the American Cancer Society and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. After some deliberation and consultation with Mark’s widow, we decided to celebrate how Mark lived and solicit donations to the Reagan Foundation.

We know times are tough and there’s not a lot of money floating around. If you’re not able to contribute financially, please say a prayer for our friend this evening as his memorial service takes place at 6:00 EST. And if you’re able, please consider chipping in. Even five dollars would be a meaningful gesture that would create a link between Mark and the good work the Foundation is doing to further Reagan’s legacy. Now, more than ever, we need the clarity of vision, seriousness of purpose and conviction in the greatness of America that were the hallmarks of the man Mark so admired. Mark has joined President Reagan in that “shining city upon a hill,” but we still have our work to do in their memory.

Please click on the below button and fill out the information. At the bottom of the form, click “In memory of” and click CONTINUE to go to page two. On the next page you can fill in “Mark Kilmer” on the “IN HONOR OF OR IN MEMORY OF” section. Under “NOTIFICATION TO” please type in “Redstate” under “First Name,” and use the email address inmemory@redstate.com.

Notification of the gifts will be shared with Mark’s widow.

Thank you all.

After the sad news of Mark Kilmer’s untimely passing reached Redstate on Thursday, we started to think of how we as a community would honor his memory. Two ideas were the American Cancer Society and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. After some deliberation and consultation with Mark’s widow, we decided to celebrate how Mark lived and solicit donations to the Reagan Foundation.

We know times are tough and there’s not a lot of money floating around. If you’re not able to contribute financially, please say a prayer for our friend this evening as his memorial service takes place at 6:00 EST. And if you’re able, please consider chipping in. Even five dollars would be a meaningful gesture that would create a link between Mark and the good work the Foundation is doing to further Reagan’s legacy. Now, more than ever, we need the clarity of vision, seriousness of purpose and conviction in the greatness of America that were the hallmarks of the man Mark so admired. Mark has joined President Reagan in that “shining city upon a hill,” but we still have our work to do in their memory.

Please click on the below button and fill out the information. At the bottom of the form, click “In memory of” and click CONTINUE to go to page two. On the next page you can fill in “Mark Kilmer” on the “IN HONOR OF OR IN MEMORY OF” section. Under “NOTIFICATION TO” please type in “Redstate” under “First Name,” and use the email address inmemory@redstate.com.

Notification of the gifts will be shared with Mark’s widow.

Thank you all.

For four years our friend Mark Kilmer has brought us the best reviews of the Sunday Shows. Today we stop to remember him, our faithful friend and fellow soldier in the fight for freedom.

The memorial service for Mark will be Monday the 9th, 6-8pm, at Mauk & Yates Funeral Home, 719 North 4th Avenue, Altoona PA.

Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 1 Th 4:13-17 (NIV)

Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell’st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

Mark Kilmer was my friend. While he walked the Earth, he laughed at Death.

He mocked it. Taunted it. Defied it with every second of his existence. No raging at Death with a full, unvarnished Ahabesque fury for him. Rather, his was a style that demonstrated command of Grace and Mischief and he employed those two twin weapons with devastating effect even as Death sought to surround and besiege his life with Panic and Melancholy. That timeless tyrant, which had laid kings and emperors low with fright and terror before taking them was rendered powerless by Mark’s cheerful determination and determined cheerfulness. Despite Death’s efforts to haunt, to stalk, to torment, its frightful effect was waved away and dismissed as impotent by Mark Kilmer, to whom valiance was second nature. Despite Death’s attempted depredations, Mark continued to champion and maintain his peace of mind and with Herculean effort, he created a refuge for himself, for his beloved Diane and for the whole of his family. Until the very end, he gave himself and his loved ones all the comfort and solace that he could muster. And what he could muster was considerable.

Death took Mark Kilmer one day shy of the birthday of his hero–and mine–Ronald Reagan. But Death did not triumph. Death won no victory. This was a hollow taking that should bring the tyrant no joy. As in life, Mark Kilmer, my friend, got the last laugh over Death.

So as I write this, I smile too; despite the redness in my eyes and the wetness of my cheeks. If Mark could laugh at Death, who am I to cower in its wake? If Mark could resolve to defy the tyrant and teach us to do the same by showing us just how valuable life is, who am I to gainsay his example or to oppose his teachings?

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Mark was an astute observer of politics and, as I learned through our interviews, of politicians. He was a talented writer and a dedicated advocate of conservative values. I want to join all the contributors and readers of RedState in sharing my condolences and prayers with his family.

It was about four years ago that the Directors of RedState were lamenting the loss of a column at National Review Online that chronicled the weekly exploits of the politicos on the Sunday talk shows. We wanted someone to write a weekly round up — 1 man and 5 shows.

We turned to my friend Mark Kilmer.

As the internet goes, Mark and I have never met in person. We had traded emails through 2003 and into 2004. I had taken to calling Dennis Kucinich “Marvin the Martian.” Mark and his wife Diane found some humor in that. Mark and I struck up a quick friendship of emails and instant messages.

Mark was a profoundly wonderful man. He loved music. We traded notes on Brahms, Bach, and the Baroque. He liked the occasional Rachmaninoff, but only a bit.

As my friend hunkered down at RedState doing his weekly round up, he stretched his legs with more media commentary and then political commentary in general. Mark seized on Rathergate.com as a place to beat the hell out of the media for its biases and incompetence on a regular basis.

So thorough was Mark at exposing the seediness and anti-American biases at McClatchy Newspaper’s Iraq blog (staffed by anonymous Iraqis who were clearly Ba’athist loyalists), one of McClatchy’s editors felt the need to sign up as a contributor at RedState to personally attack Mark. The editor was thoroughly defeated by Mark’s wit and words.

In fact, Mark had a singular wit and sense of humor that set him apart from all my other friends — older than many of us with a sense of humor ahead of us, not to mention a fiery, righteous temper and indignation over the left and the left leaning media.

Last year Mark was diagnosed with cancer in his throat. He scaled back a bit on writing, but never gave up on writing his weekly round ups. Two months ago, Mark received a clean bill of health from his doctor.

The Lord shows many tender mercies, but also lets a few curve balls get through. A week or so ago, Mark learned his cancer had returned and spread. This past Sunday, he missed, I think, his first Sunday round up.

We had great expectations and hope that he would get back into treatment and beat it. That was not to be.

The Lord called Mark home to Heaven last night. No doubt Mark’s first action past the pearly gates was to look down through the great chasm into the fiery pit to check out Walter Duranty, before heading over to visit Bach with a cheerful, “Hey mon.”

We will so very much miss Mark. Heaven got a prized jewel last night.

Our prayers go out to his wife Diane and his family.